Everyone Leaves at Some Point- One Shot
by ShandyCandy278
Summary: Just- think really hard about the title for a moment. About what it means to you, and everyone around you. You feel that? That feeling... it's all over this.


This couldn't be.

This wasn't right.

He couldn't actually… you know…

 _Could he?_

No. It was absurd. This whole thing was ridiculous.

Because he was only presenting himself on a platter to pain. Pain was the only thing that could come out of this.

He needed to stop. He needed his heart to vanish- to stop betraying him. To stop whittling down his will until it was a mere twig, bending to whatever it's master wanted and desired, only to be crushed.

 _Again._

He couldn't let this happen.

This was something he had sworn to never allow to commence.

But there she was, smiling at him, offering out her hand as though they didn't have a care in the world.

He knew better.

 _He knew._

And even if the way his tattered heart swelled at the sight of her and her light, there were other, more logical things that he knew. Things that not even a silly and gullible emotion could prevent.

He knew after the defeat of their nemesis, the downfall of the fashion empire- he knew it all too well.

The repeated process of his whole life- his whole, worthless and meaningless life- shattering.

Into millions of pieces.

Over.

And over.

 _And over again._

 _ **Everyone leaves at some point.**_

He wearily looked down at her hand- shining in the sunlight as opposed to him being wrapped in the foreboding shadows. Tears pooled around her eyes, despite the smile that was spread across her face.

He wanted to reach out. His heart yearned for him to do it like the traitorous little thing it was.

But he remembered.

He recalled everything.

Her disappearance was the one that had started it all, he supposed. It had driven HIM mad- obsessed with finding magical items of all things in an attempt to bring her back.

They were the first two who had left him.

The first two that he should've learned this lesson from.

"I'm sorry." She said earnestly, her hand shaking. He was surprised it was still offered to him.

It really shouldn't have been, considering the next big thing that had happened.

He… HE had left him for her, to bring her back. He had meant nothing in the eyes of the one it had mattered to most, and it was proven that rainy day that battle had commenced.

" _To make us whole."_

Was all HE had said as an excuse for his actions- for leaving him.

" _It was only to make our family whole again."_

' _More like drive a hole right through what was left.'_

He thought bitterly, holding his knees to his chest a little tighter.

And then, one by one, everyone else left too. Most wanted absolutely nothing to do with him- pushing him away from them and into the iron shackles of pain and hurt- a burden he had to bear alone.

Even the one that promised she wouldn't leave had pushed him away- had left him in the form of keeping their identities secret.

He looked away from her, tears pooling into his eyes. While she had been one of the minority who hadn't done anything to push him away, she hadn't done anything to keep him either. Even those who had tried, like his best friend, had left him by now.

" _I wish I could stay, bro, but this is the biggest opportunity of a lifetime!"_

" _I just got accepted as an international reporter! I'm going to be traveling all over the world!"_

"Please, I-I'm sincere when I say this." Her voice wavered even after the big breath she had taken. "I'm sorry. Please, let-let me help you."

That's what they had said.

But they had left.

 _They all had._

He knew that they had all given up on him, although they never told him. He could tell whenever he looked them in the eye- they thought that he could have gotten past this ages ago. And even then, he could tell that they were tired of the treatment that they were getting for being his friend.

No matter what he did, no matter what he said, no matter how hard he had tried, they all left him.

 _ **Everyone leaves at some point.**_

He could see the inevitable future that taking that hand brought- he had encountered it before. He'd mope and she'd try to cheer him up. It would be unsuccessful and she would try again. And she'd keep on trying and trying- sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn't- and even if she hadn't given up on him and left him by then, her actions would betray her words. She'd probably forget a promise to him or be unable to fall through on an agreement. She'd apologize, just like she's doing now, only for it to happen again.

And again.

It reminded him of how SHE repeatedly ripped his heart in two.

He couldn't stand that.

 _Not again._

He wouldn't stand for it- he would never again stand for subjecting himself to that kind of torture for a third time.

"I'm sorry." She sobbed, falling on her knees and gaining his attention. Her normally bright bluebell eyes were etched in pain and sorrow- echoing with loss.

Faintly, he wondered what might have happened to let those emotions come to pass in those eyes whose bearer only deserved happiness.

But that didn't matter now. She was speaking.

"I-I'm sorry!" She cried. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Her hand was still outstretched to him- never once taken back no matter how clearly she naturally wanted to do it in order to express the pain shattering in her eyes. "I didn't mean to, I swear! But-But after your father…" She swallowed, not needing to finish off that sentence. "No one would accept a-a job from me because I-I was his intern! Maman and Papa could only shelter me for-for so long before… be-before…"

She completely broke down, her hand entering the shadows that consumed him- almost trying to give him the light. It did the opposite, swallowing her hand in the shadows.

It made him feel uncomfortable.

Her hand was never meant to touch the darkness he dwelled in. It was supposed to stay in the light that emitted from her- from her entire entity.

 _What did she think she was doing?_

"I-I understand!" She finally exclaimed. "I understand it all! The pain, the longing, the heartache- please, come back! Come back, please! I can't- I can't-"

At first, he didn't understand.

Come back? Hadn't he always been here?

But then, he remembered. A small spark, hidden away in the shadows. He had been in the light, once. And it wasn't in the romance or the family. Nor the drama and friends- not even in class.

 _It was with her._

The small moments in his life that he had experienced with her- truly experienced with her, there was light. Warm, radiant light that he had never discovered before until he had looked back on it.

" _Come back!"_

The words echoed around in his head.

" _Come back!"_

But why did they hold such meaning to him? Why did she want him back? Hadn't she left him?

Even as he thought it he knew it couldn't be so. No, come back was not the words one used after they had left someone.

Come back were the words used after someone had left.

How could that be? How could he have left her?

Perhaps… they had left each other?

The melancholy in her whole being rose, and he saw it. For a brief, indescribable moment, he saw what she did. He saw that she felt as though she was the scum of the earth in her 'shadow', reaching a hand out into the scalding light, hoping that the impossible might happen- that he'll come back to brighten up her life.

As fast as it had come it had left. His fingers twitched with the desire to take her hand- to give them both the light.

 _ **Everyone leaves at some point.**_

He almost scoffed at himself. Had he really not learned his lesson?

But… after coming together again, wouldn't leaving one be like the other leaving the one? If they were to push each other away again, would they even be able to stand the thought of doing it?

Surely, not even their humanity could prevent the inevitable death. They'd still have to leave each other at some point- whether by choice or by consequence.

"Please!" She wailed. "I'll do anything! Just come back! Come back, and it won't ever happen again!"

He knew what would happen when he grabbed that hand.

He knew the cycle too well.

Nothing could stop it from happening- not even the fear of the other leaving you.

But the idea of warmth- something he hadn't felt in many, many years, was far too tempting.

He needed something to settle his nerves of jumping back into the fire- something to comfort him through this choice.

She had said anything.

"Could-" His voice was raspy- he hadn't had to use it in ages. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes- another thing that hadn't happened in a while. "Could we die at-at the same time? Th-That way, w-we won't leave the o-other ever a-again."

His logic was like that of a child's, but it worked so well that she laughed.

"Of course! Of course, we can! Please, come back! Come back, Adrien."

The sound of his name on her lips had him not reaching out for her hand, but leaping into her arms as all sorts of pent-up emotions that had torn him up before were let loose. She held him as he held her, both crying and wailing like newborn babes who had to be separated from their mothers.

 _ **Everyone leaves at some point.**_

He pushed the haunting thought away. No, he wouldn't let the inevitable ruin this moment of ight- this joy and relief that he felt. It could haunt him for the rest of his life, and even though he had childishly done so, he had gotten her to promise to die with him. Or to agree to let him die with her. Whichever might have been the case.

He had expected it to be only temporary, just like all the others. But even after three years, she had never shown any signs of wanting to leave him, and neither had he shown her. They were almost inseparable- forging a business that overthrew his fathers and ruled with an iron fist. They had got married and had children, continuing to grow old and never once leaving each other. People continued to come and go, arriving and leaving as the cycle stated it would be.

But not her.

 _Never her._

And not even seconds after an event that would change their lives forever, she appeared by his side and looped her arm through his.

"Hello, Marinette." He whispered reverently.

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Far, far down below, there lay a carved piece of stone. It read:

 _Adrien and Marinette Agreste- Parents, Children, and Friends. "May they never leave each other even in death."_


End file.
